Same here...and then, as an historian and an environmental scientist, I remember that there is no way the Silurian period could have produced or sustained such creatures. Those guys were native to the Permian period, at the earliest.

Same here...and then, as an historian and an environmental scientist, I remember that there is no way the Silurian period could have produced or sustained such creatures. Those guys were native to the Permian period, at the earliest.

I know, have you seen "Primeval"? They have the Silurian scorpions, which, if it wasn't for the fact that I twitch horribly watching that (deathly afraid of scorpions) which are hugely inaccurate. For one, the scorpions that were around during then (I don't think it was during this particular era where they were onland yet) were only a few feet long and didn't travel very far from open water. And the ones that did grow to being as big as they were in the show lived under water...

"Primeval" is fun but very wrong a lot of times. I loved "Prehistoric Park", for all its flaws. "Primeval" got annoying for me though. :/ I just got tired of all the meat-eating creatures being the ultimate evil on the face of the earth because they kill to survive when humans kill for sport and eat meat. I'm saying this as a meat-eater too... but I truly believe in the silly saying, "Fish gotta swim, birds gotta eat."~

I think the Primeval producers just combined a bunch of ideas to create a monster that suited their purposes. There were some big aquatic arthropods in the Permian (eurypterids hit 8 feet long, but they were aquatic), and in the late Silurian there was mixopterus, who hit about 6 feet and could come ashore. So the seeds of the idea are there. Primeval mixed it all up, though. Their scorpions were far too big and hailed from the wrong period; unfortunately, "Carboniferous Scorpion" (which would have made a lot more sense) just doesn't have the same ring, so once again, science and history took a beating for entertainment's sake.

I didn't see them depicting the meat-eaters as evil, though. In fact, I thought the show usually did a fairly decent job of respecting those creatures' role in nature. It's been a while since I watched the series, but I don't remember the monsters being evil.

I think the Primeval producers just combined a bunch of ideas to create a monster that suited their purposes. There were some big aquatic arthropods in the Permian (eurypterids hit 8 feet long, but they were aquatic), and in the late Silurian there was mixopterus, who hit about 6 feet and could come ashore. So the seeds of the idea are there. Primeval mixed it all up, though. Their scorpions were far too big and hailed from the wrong period; unfortunately, "Carboniferous Scorpion" (which would have made a lot more sense) just doesn't have the same ring, so once again, science and history took a beating for entertainment's sake.

I didn't see them depicting the meat-eaters as evil, though. In fact, I thought the show usually did a fairly decent job of respecting those creatures' role in nature. It's been a while since I watched the series, but I don't remember the monsters being evil.

Maybe that was fandom derived then, because where I was at, all the predators kept getting referred to as "monsters" and after a bit of discussion, it was simply for the fact that they ate people.

I'm not sure why Primeval thought that the bigger the predator, the more scary it would be. Personally, the little rhamphorhynchoids were a lot more terrifying in their mass than the Gigantosaurus. In "Prehistoric Park" they showed the little (big) scorpion and I'm sure it was big... but I closed my eyes when it came onscreen. Did you watch series 3 at all? I won't say anything in case you haven't, but my point about them being portrayed as just mindless monsters came from that series.~

They are very different. I can't find any pictures online, and my scanner is down. They show the new costumes, and very nice reptile heads. No light up third eye anymore. No big ears. But, the Sea Devils were very different than the Silurians. They were just another race of Earth Reptiles. I can accept these guys, too. But would love a cameo of the originals in the episode,too.

Did you watch series 3 at all? I won't say anything in case you haven't, but my point about them being portrayed as just mindless monsters came from that series.

I did, but for some reason I only remember a couple of the creatures. Wasn't that series heavily weighted in terms of the future predators? Those things are portrayed as more monster than predator, I'll grant you.

Did you watch series 3 at all? I won't say anything in case you haven't, but my point about them being portrayed as just mindless monsters came from that series.

I did, but for some reason I only remember a couple of the creatures. Wasn't that series heavily weighted in terms of the future predators? Those things are portrayed as more monster than predator, I'll grant you.

Ah yes, I almost forgot about them in the one episode. I'm glad the future in Doctor Who isn't in sepia.